Compiled by Miryam Gordon from press releases.
Highly anticipated regional premiers like Pulitzer Prize winners “English” (ArtsWest) and “Fat Ham” (Seattle Rep) and the Olivier/Tony Award winning “The Lehman Trilogy” (ACT) come to Seattle stages in April along with other innovative offerings. Take a look down below and get out yer calendars!
English, ArtsWest and Seda Iranian Theatre Ensemble, 4/4-28/24
Two words set in motion award-winning playwright Sanaz Toossi’s intricate play: “English Only.” This is the mantra that rules one classroom in Iran, where four adult students are preparing for the TOEFL — the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Chasing fluency through a maze of word games, listening exercises, and show-and-tell sessions, they hope that one day, English will help their futures. But it might be splitting them each in half.
Gunmetal Blues, Key City Public Theatre, 4/4-28/24
Is this musical a hard-boiled detective tale disguised as a lounge act- or the other way around? Direct from the Red Eye Lounge, Buddy Toupee tickles the ivories in a double-dealing world of rain-slicked streets and demolished dreams.
Death By Design, The Phoenix Theatre, 4/5-28/24
In a weekend in an English country manor in 1932, Death by Design is a hilarious, delightful and mysterious mash-up of two of the greatest English writers of all time. Edward Bennett, a playwright, and his wife, Sorel Bennett, an actress, flee London and head to Cookham after a disastrous opening night.
Fat Ham, Seattle Rep, 4/12/24-5/12/24
Playwright James Ijames introduces Juicy, a young queer Black man, with a lot on his plate. His mother just married his uncle after the untimely death of his father, whose ghost appears at a family barbecue demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. Sound familiar? This Pulitzer Prize-winning play inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a sparkling and uproarious new comedy about seeking love and liberation.
Rope, Renton Civic Theatre, 4/12-27/24
Rope is the script that Alfred Hitchcock based the 1948 film on. For the mere sake of adventure, danger, and the “fun of the thing,” Wyndham Brandon persuades his weak-minded friend, Charles Granillo, to assist him in the murder of a fellow undergraduate, a perfectly harmless man named Ronald Raglan. They place the body in a wooden chest, and to add spice to their handiwork, invite a few acquaintances, including the dead youth’s father, to a party, the chest with its gruesome contents serving as a supper table. Horror and tension are worked up gradually in this theatrical thriller.
Red, Burien Actors Theatre, 4/12/24-5/5/24 (at Kennedy Catholic High School, 140 S. 140th St., Burien)
An intense two-actor knockout takes us into the mind of abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, for whom paintings are “pulsating” life forces. Raw and provocative, but peppered with humor, Red chronicles the painter’s two-year labor to complete a lucrative set of murals for Manhattan’s exclusive Four Seasons restaurant. When Rothko’s young assistant, Ken, gains the confidence to challenge him, Rothko faces the agonizing possibility his crowning achievement could also become his undoing.
Shakespeare Up Close: Ages of Being, New City Theater, 4/12/24-5/25/24 (at a Capitol Hill home, 12 people per performance only)
New City founding artists, Mary Ewald and John Kazanjian, have created a compilation of compelling speeches and sonnets tracing the arc of life from youth to old age. Come to this intimate performance from veteran Seattle producers.
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/6262703
The Plague Master General, Blue Hour Theatre Group, 4/12-27/24 (at West of Lenin)
The Plague Master General (a bubonic comedy) is a bitingly funny and cynical look at a kingdom that handles, mishandles, and ignores an impending and obvious catastrophe. It’s the mid-1300s (give or take) and a deadly plague no one understands is engulfing Europe. Thankfully, they’ve found someone who’s going to cure it. Is he a doctor? A scholar? A debonair hero with charisma and can-do spirit? Absolutely not. But thanks to a powerful baron, a terrifying baroness, and a doctor-priest who couldn’t be bothered, our “hero” now has a life-or-death responsibility for which he is entirely unqualified. Explore the dangers of hubris, apathy, and blind faith in the healing power of leeches.
Into the Breeches, Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts, 4/12-28/24
It’s 1942, and the leading men of the Oberon Play House are fighting overseas. A band of passionate, yet inexperienced, performers rally together to produce the Oberon’s season opener, an all-female version of Shakespeare’s ambitious Henry IV and Henry V. A hilarious and moving story about what happens when we’re all in it together.
Animals Out of Paper, ReAct Theatre, 4/19/24-5/19/24 (at 12th Avenue Arts)
Playwright Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) introduces a reclusive artist, a high school Calculus teacher, and a brilliant Indian American teen — each isolated and lonely in their own way. They find a surprising connection, along with compassion and even love, through their shared devotion to the art of origami. This richly layered, poignant, and quirky comedy/drama explores the transformative power of creativity and the healing power of connection after a time of isolation.
Bless This Jess, Jessica Martin, 4/19-20/24 (at 18th & Union) (world premiere)
Jessica Martin was a veteran Seattle actor for years and moved to L.A., where she has recently been fortunate enough to be part of the cast of the movie Oppenheimer! Her one-woman show about Joan of Arc and mental illness is a combination history lesson and autobiography. Both humorous and heartbreaking, it weaves together the stories of Joan of Arc, the writer’s journey with mental health, and the moment when both women’s lives overlap.
Romeo and Juliet, Seattle Shakespeare Company, 4/24/24-5/12/24
This production of the classic Shakespeare play will focus on the stresses teenagers experience on a daily basis, with pressure from peers, parents, societal expectations, sex, changing bodies, childhood/adulthood transitions, lack of autonomy, self-identity, violence. Explore Romeo and Juliet, teenagers caught up in politics, trying to do their best to make their own future.
Letters of Suresh, ReAct Theatre, 4/24/24-5/12/24 (at 12th Avenue Arts)
As a companion to Animals Out of Paper – on “off nights,” ReAct is also performing a second Rajiv Joseph play. Intimate mysteries are revealed as a quartet of souls yearning for connection are brought together through extraordinary correspondence. Across time and oceans, these strangers share letters of faith, letters of family, and letters of love.
A Tale of Peter Rabbit, Seattle Children’s Theatre, 4/25/24-5/12/24 (world premiere)
Flopsy, Mopsy and Topsy retell the tale of their brother Peter’s thrilling adventure into mean old Mr. McGregor’s garden, determined to fill his belly with delicious vegetables despite the risks.
The whimsical storytelling of Beatrix Potter’s beloved children’s classic inspires generations of readers to embrace their curiosity and explore the world around them. (Ages 3+)
The Lehman Trilogy, ACT Theatre, 4/26/24-5/12/24
Stefano Massini’s book as adapted by Ben Power come to ACT after a triumphant run on London’s West End and Broadway. The Lehmans begin as so many American immigrants do: on a cold dock in New York City 1844. Three brothers live the American Dream: from humble beginnings to outrageous success. 163 years later, that legacy comes crashing down, triggering the largest financial crisis in history. How? Why? This extraordinary feat of storytelling invites us to question what success is worth, how legacy is defined, and what we value in the wake of devastating collapse.
Scrambling The Goose, Washington Ensemble Theatre, 4/26/24-5/13/24
Harkening back to WET’s generative roots, they are bringing a new show, inspired by the Neofuturists in Chicago and New York whose mission is to bring, “Non-illusory, interactive performance that conveys experiences and ideas as honestly as possible.” This is theater created by this community for this community. If you like fun, creative, bold, fast-paced, unexpected theatre, this show is for you.
Almost, Maine, Tacoma Little Theatre, 4/26/24-5/12/24
Welcome to Almost, Maine, a town that’s so far north, it’s almost not in the United States—it’s almost in Canada. And it almost doesn’t exist. Because its residents never got around to getting organized. So it’s just…Almost. One cold, clear Friday night in the middle of winter, while the northern lights hover in the sky above, Almost’s residents find themselves falling in and out of love in the strangest ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. Love is lost, found, and confounded. And life for the people of Almost, Maine will never be the same.
The Man with the Plastic Sandwich, Olympic Theatre Arts Center, 4/26/24-5/12/24
Fired after twenty years, Walter Price encounters three provocative characters while contemplating his options on a park bench: Ellie, a high spirited ingenue who represents hope; Haley, a distinguished hobo representing wisdom; and Lenore, a hooker who represents reality.
The Lion Tells His Tale, Intiman Theatre, 5/1-5/24 (at Broadway Performance Hall) (world premiere)
Vida Oliphant Sneed introduces Delbert Richardson’s national award-winning museum, making it come to life on stage for a brand new theatrical experience. Audiences will be transported on a journey of awakening as the brilliance, resistance, and resilience of Black people from Africa to the Americas is brought to life. Music, dance, and spoken word carry our hero through time as we all gather to engage and learn. “Until the lion tells his tale, the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” – African proverb
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About the Author: Miryam Gordon
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